27th September, 2015
Nothing is more important and beneficial to a newborn baby than breast milk, OLUREMILEKUN OSOBU-ASUBIOJO, writes
The joy of every mother is to hold her child in her arms after a long period of protruded tummy weight on the pelvic bones caused by pregnancy. This period creates a sensation of tearing, especially at seven months. I experienced it.
Then came the 40th week, the expected week to be delivered of my baby. The ‘D’ day was a Wednesday, the 25th day of November, 2014. The labour came. It was 16 hours of excruciating pain caused by each contraction and which came with a seizing up at my lower back. The muscles inside me were slowly twisting, harder and harder until it became unbearable. When I thought the muscles would squeeze themselves out, the pain would slowly subside.
It was much more painful as the time drew closer. At exactly 11. 20 p.m, the baby, a boy, arrived. After some minutes of cleaning up, he was brought to latch on my breast as the yellowish substance, the very first liquid from the breasts that comes from a new mother, slowly dropped in his mouth. I sighed to myself; the human-natural juice for life. I made up my mind there and then to implement my decision to exclusively breast-feed my baby for its enormous benefits and to practice what I preach as a journalist.
Children are often regarded as the leaders of tomorrow, the future generation. Many factors contribute to their adequate health and proper well being. One of these factors is nutrition - exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of an infant’s life, an initiative that is always celebrated by the African International Baby Care Development Initiative, AFRIBABY, a registered non-governmental organisation, NGO. The organisation has just celebrated its 12th Babies and Moms Expo titled: ‘Great Mothers, Happy Babies’. It was a two-day ceremony at the MRC Hall, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH. The event was also packaged with an inauguration of a new Chairman, Board of Trustee, Afribaby Initiative, Iyalode of Lagos, Chief Mrs. Fatima-Bintu Tinubu. It also afforded an exhibition and a breastfeeding contest among others.
AFRIBABY was created under the Chairmanship of late Chief Molade Okoya-Thomas to fight the course of babies in Africa with the aim of reducing child mortality. Okoya-Thomas sowed the seeds of time, energy, goodwill and network of associates for the birth and nurturing of AFRIBABY.
One of the most effective ways to ensure childhood survival with an immediate and lifetime-promising of good health benefits is exclusive breastfeeding. This is the process that involves the adequate dedication and determination of the mother to ensure that the infant receives only breast milk, without the intake of any form of liquid including water or solids but with an exception of oral re-hydration solution, ORS, or drops or syrups of vitamins, mineral or medicine for the first six months of the infant’s life. After this, there would be a continuation of the breastfeeding process with appropriate complementary foods up to two years of age or beyond.
The World Health Organisation, WHO, recommends early initiation of breastfeeding process especially the first secretion known as the Colostrum within the first hour after delivery due to its great advantages. Colostrum is the yellowish, sticky breast milk, produced at the end of pregnancy. It contains large quantity and quality of antibodies that protect a child against pathogens.
Breast milk is a complete food for infants. The nutrient composition of breast-milk is approximately: fat-3.80 percent, protein- 1.20 percent, lactose- 7.00 percent, ash- 0.21 percent, water- 87.60 percent.
The water content of breast milk is of reasonable quantity, which does not necessarily require further intake or provision of water from other sources for infants. The belief that the baby needs water to aid its digestion is a misunderstanding by many mothers In the society.
To ensure an infant gets the best nutrients and satisfaction from breast milk, experts advise proper positioning of babies to the breasts to make sure that the mouth is well placed on the nipple and the brown area surrounding the nipple. To guarantee babies have adequate breast milk, mothers can maintain a supply by expressing milk, which can be fed them from a cup during her absence and having nutritionally adequate diets.
Expressed breast milk is safe for up to eight hours at room temperature. If refrigerated, it may be safe for up to 24 hours. Almost all mothers, including HIV infected mothers, can participate in this exercise, provided they have accurate information and support of the family. Though an HIV-infected mother can pass the infection to her infant during delivery and through breastfeeding, anti-retroviral, ARV, drugs now avail the children of HIV- infected mothers the great benefits of breast milk. Intake of these drugs reduces the risks of transmission; the combination of breastfeeding and ARV has the potential to significantly improve the chances of survival of the children of HIV-infected mothers.
WHO also recommends that when HIV-infected mother’s breastfeed, they should regularly receive ARVs and follow WHO guidance for infant feeding so as to protect the children from the infection. According to WHO, about 800,000 children would be saved from childhood mortality if they are breastfed exclusively for six months.
Beyond the immediate benefits of breast-milk for children, breastfeeding contributes to good state of health throughout lifetime. Adolescents and adults who were breastfed as babies are less likely to be overweight or obese or suffer from type -2- diabetes. They also have sound Intelligence Quotient, IQ.
Infants are not the only ones who enjoy the benefits of breast milk. In mothers, it reduces the risks of breast and ovarian cancers later in life. It helps the mothers to return to their pre-pregnancy weight faster and lowers the rate of obesity.
Unfortunately, however, some mothers are unable to participate in the life saving process of exclusive breastfeeding due to the nature of their jobs which is beyond their control considering the financial demand and need to support the family income.
It was an enlightening period for participants at the Afribaby event where an advocacy for six months maternity leave and 10 days paternity leave so as to facilitate, promote and encourage six months exclusive breastfeeding process, was agreed upon.
According to Dr Oscar Odiboh, Founder of Afribaby Initiative, the period of the maternity and paternity leave was to allow the mothers to stay at home a bit longer to ensure that a child would have received about 80 percent of immunization.
“This period also will boost the baby’s social skills and allow the baby to grow in a more productive way. The paternity leave is also designed to increase the bond among mummy, daddy and the baby. This also will promote fast recovery of the mother from pregnancy and labour pains,” he said just as he stressed on the importance of investing in the future of the nation to bring about good leadership through exclusive breast feeding.
“I want to use this opportunity to inform the Chief Executives Officers of various private companies in Nigeria to encourage exclusive breast feeding. As it is a recongnised fact that the six months maternity and ten days paternity is only applicable to civil servants (in Lagos State). Private companies should see the approval of maternity and paternity leaves as their social responsibility to invest into the future of the nation that will bring about good leadership,” he said. “These companies should see it from the perspective that people invested in them as babies when they were helpless and vulnerable. By so doing they can also invest in other children and not only their children by the approval of these break.”
Former First Lady of Lagos State and matron of the organisation, Dame Mrs. Emmanuella Abimbola Fashola, urged Nigerians to support AFRIBABY initiative aimed at all-round child and mother care in tackling infant mortality so that the recurring incidence of maternal and child mortality can be reduced to the barest minimum. Mrs. Fashola mentioned that the effort will go a long way for the country to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of reducing child mortality.
In his remark, Prof. Adewale Oke, Chief Medical Director of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, said that reducing child mortality and ensuring child survival required a collective effort.
“The government, health practitioners, parents and non-governmental organisations have a role to play in ensuring that the high rate of child mortality in Nigeria reduces. This is why LASUTH is supporting AFRIBABY Initiative to promote and advocate for adequate healthcare for mothers and their babies,” he said.
The competition at the event was won by a seven-month old baby, Xavi Ugbana, who was crowned as the 2015 AFRIBABY of the year, followed by the first runner up David Ojah, a 10-month old baby and Oluwashemilogo Asubiojo, a five-months-old baby who became the second runner up of the year. All the winners of the competition, mothers, daddies and babies went home with gifts from their AFRIBABY sponsors.
Uche Ugbana, a school teacher and mother of the winner, appealed for adequate support to enhance the practice of exclusive breastfeeding. “Exclusive breastfeeding is really a big task. Without necessary support and understanding of the people around me, I would have opted out. I have two of my in-laws who have contributed to the actualization of this task. I must also add that the society needs to be more enlightened and educated on the enormous benefits of breast milk because it will be the one to discourage mothers despite the doctors’ advise,” she said.
Also reflecting on the task of exclusive breastfeeding, Oluremilekun Asubiojo, mother of the second runner-up, said that it is quite a challenging task. According to her, “the act of performing exclusive breastfeeding exercise is really a challenging task because one needs to breastfeed at every beck and call during the day and at night. That means one has to be with the baby almost every time in case the need arises. The most fulfilling aspect of it is that it is safe and contains antibodies that help to protect infants from common childhood illnesses such as diarrhea and pneumonia which are primary causes of child mortality. It is a rewarding task in the long run.”